


The Rat Lady (or: My Good Pillows)

by GermanShepherd



Category: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Other, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GermanShepherd/pseuds/GermanShepherd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Arvena Thelas' pet rats are threatened by a mountain lion, she decides to make amends with her pillow-loving sister.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rat Lady (or: My Good Pillows)

After finding the first rat body, Arvena Thelas started to realise how her sister must have felt about the pillows. With an old box she’d found in the back of her cupboard, she buried her rat, scaly tail and all, and felt a little piece of her heart crumble away. After finding the second body, she knew there was something wrong. And she had heard strange noises coming from the basement recently, more than the usual squeaking and scurrying that she’d grown to love.

The fighter from the Fighter’s Guild had given her a strange look when she’d said “my poor babies”, but they’d gone down the stairs anyway to investigate. Once again, she realised this must have been how her sister Drarayne had felt whenever someone criticised her love of pillows. Arvena herself included, she thought as her stomach turned bitterly. It was too late to feel guilty. She’d already cut ties with Drarayne. She’d moved to Cyrodiil, for Vehk’s sake. Their relationship was long dead.

“There was a mountain lion down there,” the fighter said at her shoulder. Arvena yelped and spun around. 

“A mountain lion? In my basement?” Her heart sank and she felt another piece crumble. “But...how?”

They shrugged, insisted they didn’t know why, and she eventually suggested they go find Pinarus Inventius, Anvil’s local huntsman.

“Pinarus Inventius?” they asked dumbly.

“Yes, Pinarus Inventius! Do you want me to give you his address, for Vehk’s sake?!”

They nodded. Arvena sighed. And gave them the address.

After she’d glared them out the door she went to her writing desk and pulled out a quill, inkwell, and a piece of parchment.

_ Dear Sister,  _ she began, and crossed it out angrily, ripping off the top piece of parchment so Drarayne wouldn’t see it (Arvena never liked to waste parchment),  _ Drarayne, _ it began,  _ I know we have history that can never be forgotten, or even forgiven, but I write now to tell you that I finally understand how you feel about those pillows. _

She remembered her sister’s face when she described her favourite pillow, when she told Arvena about the huge shipment she’d ordered, when she’d caressed those pillows after she’d had the Fighter’s Guild thug...do the deed.

_ I understand how you feel, Drarayne, because I feel the same way about my rats. I know - I always did like them, but now, I truly love them as my own children. This is not to make you feel even worse about the way we parted, but to extend a hand towards you, in understanding. _

She remembered Drarayne telling her about the infestation with disgust written on her face. Rats in the storage room. It hadn’t sounded so bad to Arvena, but Drarayne stressed the point that her pillows were in danger. Big deal, Arvena had thought. She remembered how happy Drarayne had looked when the rats had been killed. and she remembered how sick she’d felt that her sister valued a bunch of  _ pillows _ so highly that she’d slaughter innocent rats without a thought.

“There’s rats,” Drarayne had said when Arvena dropped by for her usual visit. “Rats, in my storage room. I’m going to get them killed.”

“Killed?” Arvena had replied. “Why? They’re harmless! Sweet, even.”

“They’re in my  _ storage room _ , Vena. With my pillows. They’ll destroy them. My  _ pillows _ , Vena!”

“Drarayne, I think you’re a little too serious about y- “

“Yes, I know what you think of my pillows. You don’t understand. You’ll never understand. I’ve already sent word to the Fighter’s Guild.”

Arvena had clenched her jaw, angry that her sister’s obsession had gone so far, angry that innocent rats would be killed. She’d find some cages, she decided, or make them if she had to, and take away those rats before the fighter could get to them.

“Suit yourself, Drarayne,” she’d said before slamming the door behind her.

_ I had six of them. I raise them in my basement. My beautiful little pets, with their little pink noses and little scaly tails. I’ve buried two of them already. My rats are being killed off by a mountain lion. I hired the Fighter’s Guild to take care of it, ironically enough. But I feel like a part of me has been taken away. I do understand, Drarayne. I understand about the pillows now. I understand how you would do anything to preserve them, even kill some rats. I couldn’t stomach what you did for the sake of your pillows. I still can’t, but at least I get it now. _

Arvena had hurried back to Drarayne’s house, cages in hand, but when she opened the door and saw Drarayne surrounded with pillows, a spacey, ecstatic look on her face, she knew she was too late.

“They saved my pillows, Vena!” she’d said, staring at her sister with manic eyes, one hand caressing the pillows around her. “They got rid of the nasty little creatures!”

Arvena had thrown the cages to the floor. “Killed!” she’d screamed. “And for what! Some pillows! You know I love rats! I was going to come and take them away!”

“Well, you were too late!” Drarayne had snapped.

They’d had a row, and after that, Arvena had decided she wouldn’t be visiting her sister again. She’d decided to move to Cyrodiil, and explore her love for rats.

_ It’s a shame to lose a sister over a couple of rats, or pillows. Even if we never speak again, I just want you to know that I get it now. We’re not so different. _

_ Love, _

_ Arvena _

She sent the letter that day and hurried home to her rats. They squeaked and peeped happily under her touch, their noses twitching and their whiskers tickling her hands. She couldn’t help but grin.

The next day she heard noises in the basement again, this time growling and horrific ripping. She screamed down the stairs to the basement to scare the lion off, but couldn’t bring herself to go down, despite all the gruesome thoughts cycling through her head.

“Pinarus and I killed the mountain lions outside the city,” the fighter said. Arvena spun around for the second time. They’d just...let themselves in! Without asking!

“There’s  _ another _ mountain lion in my basement! Kill it! Before it gets any more of my rats!”

She wrung her hands the entire time, and wondered when her sister would get her letter. When the fighter reappeared, smeared with dark red blood, Arvena wrinkled her nose.

“I’m not sure how the mountain lion got in,” the fighter said. “We killed them all.”

Arvena narrowed her eyes at them. Could she trust them with this information? After they’d thought her crazy for having pet rats? She’d have to trust them.

“I think Quill-Weave is behind this somehow,” she said.

The fighter agreed to investigate, and for the second time in as many days Arvena glared at them until they shut the door behind them.

Honestly, it didn’t matter much to her what Quill-Weave’s part in the whole thing was, as long as her rats were alive. And they stayed that way, because no more strange noises came from the basement and she didn’t find any more rat bodies.

A couple of days later she received a parcel in the post, containing a letter, from Drarayne, and a pillow, hand-embroidered with a picture of a rat. Arvena smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> D'y'all remember Drarayne Thelas from Morrowind, the woman who had rats in her house that you had to kill as part of the Fighter's Guild? And how she was obsessed with pillows? And do you remember Arvena Thelas from Oblivion, who also had rats in her house, but she kept them as pets and was devastated that something was killing them? Well, it's my headcanon that they're sisters, and they were estranged somehow.
> 
> Hope this little one-shot makes sense. I felt the urge to create something today and I haven't edited it much.


End file.
